Furor 3.05

I took a deep breath. I had a lot on my mind, after this afternoon, and as it got closer and closer to midnight... Lisa had left, just a little bit after we'd gotten back to the hideout. She'd said something about having to talk with Brian, but she'd seemed a bit panicked for some reason. After Emma, and that note from my Dad I just couldn't do much of anything else social,so I sequestered myself in my room.

I'd tried to keep busy. I'd gotten my laptop set up and even found a few news stories I'd decided to keep up with-in particular I felt the need to do more reading on the Canary trial when I had less on my mind. But, as the afternoon turned to evening my thoughts turned to back to earlier to day and… One thing at a time. I checked the time, 10:30 PM. If I left now, I'd get there a bit early, but it's been awhile since I've visited Mom's grave.

I was still in the shorts and tank Lisa had gotten me, but I'd ditched the sandals. I'd be leaving through the storm sewer and it was just easier to not have to worry about them. Also, I'd kind of gotten used to the feeling of the ground on my feet over the last few days. I went upstairs, to let Rachel and Alec know that I was about to head out.

I didn't have far to go-I found the both of them in the main basement, in Rachel's kennel. Rachel was sitting in a corner just petting and playing with her dogs and Alec was sort of looking at her.

"Hey," I said in greeting, then turned to Alec. "I didn't expect you down here."

He shrugged in response.

"Well, I just came up to tell you guys I'm heading out, so..." That sounded better in my head.

Rachel patted one of her dogs-Judas if I'm not mistaken, and then looked up at me. "Do you, hmm, do you," she coughed, then looked away from me. "Do you want one of us to come with you?"

"No, this is really something I should do on my own." Rachel looked back to me and I smiled, carefully, to not show my teeth, and continued. "But thank you for asking."

With that said, and no one looking like they were going to say anything else, I turned to head back down to my room, and from there the storm sewers. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I overheard Alec mumble something, then caught the sound of flesh hitting flesh. I shrugged, Alec must have done something to piss off Rachel.

As I walked through the sewers, my thoughts turned back to Dad, and what I might find at the cemetery. I'd robbed a bank and trashed a team of child superheroes… Dad took out the Merchants, would he have found out about the drugs? I hope he didn't get the wrong idea. Would Dad still want me back, if by some miracle I could ever go home again? I mean, he wanted to see me, and Lisa had said that he'd spent the last few months trying to get people to believe I was innocent, but that was before the bank. What if he just wanted me to meet with him so he could tell me off in person? What if it was a trap? Lisa said she didn't think it was likely, but she was wrong about how many Wards would be at the bank so she could be wrong about this, and…

I shook my head. There was no point in dwelling on such things. I couldn't back out now, I had to see this through. I came to a ladder leading up to a manhole. I closed my eyes and felt out with my senses, and when I couldn't feel any emotions near by I climbed up and out into the streets. I was still a bit away from the cemetery, but there wasn't a storm sewer anywhere near it so I don't have much of a choice.

As I walked the rest of the way towards the cemetery, I would occasionally notice people in the streets out late at night-a couple members of the gangs, a couple of prostitutes, and some people who just had really poor judgement. Most people didn't pay me much mind, though a woman I think was a prostitute who saw me ran away, a jolt of fear cutting through her emotions, and at one point I noticed a presence with emotions directed at me with intent from about a dozen or so yards up the street, but when I turned to get a look at the guy they were running away. I shrugged, guessing that it was some thug planning to mug me, who ran when they got a better look at me.

I felt three sets of emotions present when I got to the cemetery, but they were out of my line of sight the whole way to Mom's grave. There was no sign of Dad at the grave, so I just crouched down and sat in front of Mom's tombstone.

I looked at the stone, and read the epitaph for the first time in a good while:

Annette Rose Hebert

1969-2008

She taught something precious to each of us.

"It's been awhile," I said to the stone and the open air. "A lot has happened since the last time I visited." I took a deep breath. "I've got powers now. I'm, I'm so strong now and I'm just gonna keep getting stronger. I wish I could tell you I was a hero, but things didn't work out like that. I know you were part of Lustrum's movement, back before it started getting violent, but..." Like I said, Mom had left the movement before it got violent, back when it was just feminists campaigning and protesting for women's' rights. The worst thing Mom had done was get rowdy during a rally. But, even if Mom had been in one of Lustrum's main gangs before she left, she… she wouldn't have done anything like robbing a bank or stealing drugs from the most aggressive dealers in town. That wasn't the kind of person mom was. I sighed. "I've got some new friends now… They're… They're villains… I'm a villain now." I took another breath to calm my nerves. I'd never get this done if I kept hesitating. "I didn't want to be, but something happened and a lot of people think I'm a monster and, and my new friends are some of the first people to treat me like an actual human being in a long time. They seem like good people otherwise, or at least they're good to me, and I guess that's what counts." That sounded weak, even to me, now that I said it out loud. I think I needed to learn more about my new friends.

"I don't know if Dad's been by, but he's a hero now." I felt a fourth emotional presence enter the graveyard. "A Tinker. He took out the Merchants and he's using his tech to fix up the city. I'm actually here to meet him, and-" the emotional presence was heading my way. I could feel anticipation, hope, concern, and love, and-I jumped to my feet and turned to look just as the presence came into view. The man I saw was wearing a trench coat but even from this distance I could clearly make out that it was "Dad!"

I wanted to run up to him and hug him, but I stayed at Mom's grave. I mean, I could feel his emotions, but I couldn't be 100 percent sure how he'd react or what he wanted with this meeting.

As Dad came up to Mom's grave, I noticed that he'd changed, just slightly, since the last time I'd seen him. He looked just a bit more fit, I guess is the best way to describe it, as though he was getting more exercise. I felt a twinge of guilt as I noticed the dark circles around his eyes and that his hair had grayed a bit since I'd last seen him. Was he losing sleep over me?

The first thing Dad did, when he got to me,was to gesture at my face. "I, I see you're not wearing your glasses anymore," he said awkwardly.

I blinked, then felt at my face for frames that weren't there. "Okay," I said after a moment, "that's really something I should have noticed before now." Dad chuckled, just a bit, and I couldn't help but join in.

"Okay," Dad said, "there's one thing we have to get out of the way: You're grounded."

"For robbing the bank?"

"No," Dad answered, "for fighting Lung." He pointed to his hair and I noticed that he was wearing some kind of armor from the gauntlets on his hands. "Do you see this grey?" he asked in a tone all too serious, "most of this from watching you fight him the other night."

I laughed nervously. "So, you're not mad about… you know?"

"I'm not happy that you've joined up with a band of villains," Dad said, "But I can understand why you did it, and besides," he continued, "I'd be a hypocrite if I got mad at you for joining the Undersiders after I hired Uber and Leet."

I blinked again. "What?"

"I needed parahuman assistance," Dad answered in an even tone, "and Uber and Leet were in my price range. Besides, they've more than earned their pay."

"But… they're a joke," I was still incredulous, "and did you see that Grand Theft Auto episode they did?"

"Would you believe that they staged that?" I looked at Dad and he continued. "You hear about them hiring minions, but you never see them in their videos… except you do. Apparently, a lot of Uber and Leet's more extreme stuff is staged."

"Really?"

"Don't get me wrong," Dad continued, "they made it clear what kind of jobs they were willing to do if the price was right back when I first hired them." Dad shuddered. "They've got standards, but not that many. At least they didn't when I hired them. Now, they're talking about coming clean and becoming heroes."

"Huh, good for them," I kind of wish I could get a chance like that.

"Now," Dad said, back in serious mode, "there is one thing that we need to talk about." Dad took a deep breath and then looked me in the eyes. "I know about the drugs." I looked away. "Taylor, I need to know. Are you using?"

I started rubbing my forearms, focusing on the feeling of the smooth carapace on my fingers. "It's not what you think."

"Then what is it?"

I swallowed. "I-I don't just change on the outside. I'm, I'm adapting-evolving, constantly, and I adapt faster if I have something to adapt to."

"So the drugs?"

"If I take them now, they won't affect me later," I gave a half assed smile, "and toxins in general don't work as well either, once I've adapted to a drug or poison. So, I use the drugs now, and I'm less likely to get hurt if someone drugs or poisons me later."

Dad… His emotions felt weird for a moment, and his expression kept shifting, as though he didn't know how to feel. Then he just pulled me into a hug. "Taylor," Dad said, "I love you, and nothing will change that. If you ever get into trouble over your head, or if you've got any questions, or need my help, I'm here for you."

I hugged him back. "I love you too, Dad. Actually, I do have a couple of questions."

"Shoot."

"Why are you wearing powered armor?"

Dad let me go and we pulled apart. "Because you have super strength and claws, Taylor, and Lacey overheard a few people talking about how you'd apparently hate to accidentally carve people like turkeys the other day."

I blushed. I never expected that to come back and bite me, especially so soon.

Dad smiled. "What else were you going to ask?"

"Are strong liquors supposed to taste like cough syrup, or do I just have mutant taste buds?" There was that shifting expression again.

"So," Dad said, changing the subject, "How are the Undersiders treating you?"

"They're good to me," I answered, more confidently than when I spoke to Mom's grave. I felt some more presences enter the graveyard, but I payed them no mind. This was more important. "They're good friends."

"Good," Dad said, "and how is Sarah treating you."

"Pretty good. She gave me some great advice when I first set out to remake the zerg and-" Wait. "How do you know about Sarah." Sarah had said that the powers from her universe would spread out from me. Did that mean that Dad...

Dad was smiling. "Ask her about Jim Raynor the next time you see her. So," he said carefully, "you're trying to recreate the Zerg?"

"Yeah, my hatchery should be up and running any day now."

"Well, be careful. The last thing we want is an… incident." Dad felt a bit scared when he said that.

"Dad, it's going to be alright." I smiled in a way that I hopped was reassuring. "Honest."

"If you say so," Dad replied in a calm tone, though his emotions hadn't changed. "I've got a communicator for you," he said as he reached into his trench coat, "I want you to use it if..." Dad trailed off, staring behind me, and I could feel multiple presences behind me.

"We hate to interrupt what is probably a touching reunion," came a feminine voice, "but Kaiser has business with the so called 'Empress.' " I turned around and saw a pair of Valkyries and six young men, each with some type of automatic rifle and wearing E88's colors. This day just keeps getting worse and worse.